


MariChat in the Snow

by AddedOC



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-27 15:35:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13251246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AddedOC/pseuds/AddedOC
Summary: My first try at a one shot. A Secret Santa present for a friend in my Nano group.





	MariChat in the Snow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [otterberries](https://archiveofourown.org/users/otterberries/gifts).



MariChat in the snow

For: Hollinder

From: Lady Dark Link

A very long Oneshot

  
  


Time was not on her side, Marinette knew that even before her earrings let out a soft but audible beep close to her ear. A crowd was gathered below her slowly swinging body. A pair of chopsticks had been her Lucky Charm, a simple pair of chopsticks that she had used to clog the exhaust pipes of the Flamers flamethrower. It had become too hot for the akuma’s back but as he went to throw it away from him he had hit her and sent her flying off the side of the hotel. She barely had time to wrap her yoyo around the balconies railing before she fell too far to stop. Chat was above, possibly fending off the Flamer with the help of his staff and a slew of puns to boot. She knew she could trust her partner to hold his own while she re-energized, but her problem was much worse than that. 

_Beep beep_

She closed her eyes tightly as the sound filled her ears once again, she had less than a minute to figure out… something. Her fingers started to shake around her yoyo string and she could feel her heartbeat in her eardrums. _This is bad_. Her mind was blank but for those three simple words. She had attempted to swing but had only been met with unyielding windows. The room beyond was empty which was good in a way, no one would see her detransform if she made it in, but terrible in the moment since no one was there to open the damn things.

“Chat!” She exclaimed as the final beep rang out from her earrings. The string holding her up vanished and she felt an odd sense of weightlessness as, for a split second, she hovered in the air; then, with a sickening sinking feeling, her body dropped like lead. Leaving her with the sensation that her stomach had not followed her as she plummeted towards the crowd below.

“Ladybug!” She saw a flash of black as Chats voice filled her ears and felt his body bump into her own before she was soaring through the sky once again. She turned quickly as he carried her to safety, hiding her face against his chest as the bright pink light around her faded. “Ladybug, are you okay?” He set her down and gripped her shoulders lightly as he pulled away from her. She hung her head in shame as a sharp intake filled her ears.

“Marinette?!”

“Don't look at me!” She exclaimed as her hands shot back to her face hard enough to leave stinging red marks on her cheeks. She could feel the painful prick of large tears beginning in her eyes as her shoulders shook. Tikki’s hand patted her ear gently as a soft soothing hum escaped her tiny body.

“Mari, it’s okay. Its me look.Plagg, Claws o-omph!” She had rushed to clamp her hands over his mouth as he called out his detransformation. Her eyes were shut tight just in case but when no flash of light illuminated her eyelids she relaxed visibly and let out a soft relieved sigh.

“No!” She jabbed him in the chest as she set her stern glare on him, a bit of her Ladybug courage showing through as she rested her free hand on her cocked out hip and straightened her back, “Chat Noir if you reveal yourself to me I will never forgive you! I don't care who you are under that mask. A true friend would understand that he doesn't need to prove anything to me.” The tears that had stung her eyes began rolling down her cheeks as she continued with anger evident in her voice, “I'm sorry, ok. I am sorry it's me and that you found out. I shouldn't even be Ladybug in the first place. Especially when you end up doing most the fighting, you take the hits and I- I can't even detransform safely.” She felt her shoulders slump and turned away from him quickly to wipe the wetness off of her cheeks. How could this happen? She was out of the fight and on top of that he _saw her_. Tikki was there in an instant to nuzzle her damp skin and she felt herself smile a tiny amount at her kwamis affection.

“I don't understand. Mari, I'm glad it's you,” her eyes widened at his words but she did not turn to look back at him, “if it were anyone else I don't think I would be able to handle it. Lucky for me it was the sweet caring girl who stands up for her friends and cares about everyone. The first time I met you at-”

“No more!” She exclaimed before he could finish, “you can't tell me anything about you, especially if we met outside of the mask!” She didn't wait for him to say anything more before bounding across the rooftop and into the door leading down below, into the office building they stood upon.

* * *

 

The alarm blaring beside her ear had her groggily rubbing at her eyes. She groaned as she shifted to a sitting position and glanced at the still sleeping Tikki on the pillow beside her. Her hand shifted about until she found her phone and quickly swiped to snooze the alarm. She didn't sleep in anymore, hadn't for a few weeks now. Not since the day her mask fell away in front of Chat Noir of all people. She had eventually found the strength to return and help de-evilize the Flamers akuma, leaving shortly after without even so much as a fistbump between them. She was just so embarrassed in front of him now, _he knew,_ he knew who she was and still had insisted on treating her the same as he had before. He had to be forcing it because there was no way he liked shy little nobody Marinette as much as he did the super heroine Ladybug. The memory of that day flashed in her mind and she bit her bottom lip as her eyes began to sting. She was so weak in front of someone who had clearly idolized her, shame was all she could feel about that.  

“Checking for presents again?” Tikkis voice cut through the silence as she stood to open the skylight above her bed. She looked down at the tiny red and black spotted kwami with a small frown playing across her lips.

“I don't know what he's trying to prove, he leaves expensive gifts for me on my balcony then cards professing his love to me in my locker. It's been every day for a week now.” She sighed and relented in her task, instead sinking into a sitting position on her bed, “I know he claims he loves me but I really don't need Alya asking questions again. It's bad enough she caught my foot on video as I lost my transformation.”

 “Anyone can wear flats.”

 “That's what I told her, but Chat knows who I am now and he could slip up, call out Marinette instead of Ladybug. It's not fair. Those dumb gifts could give me away to.”

 “You wouldn't let him reveal himself to you though. This is all he can think of.” Tikki reminded her with a knowing smile.

 “I didn't tell him to do this though!” She exclaimed as she motioned to a box filled with unopened gifts from the black clad superhero, “I haven't seen him in three days and I still have to put up with him! And last patrol he asked me to _Mari_ him!” A soft growl rolled up from her throat as she crossed her arms. Tikki giggled softly before flying up to nuzzle her cheek.

 "I think that's really sweet of him.” She stated as her chosen sulked and glared at the gifts. Marinette sighed softly after a moment and patted Tikkis head with a few fingers.

 “I gotta get ready for school, would you check the balcony for me?” She asked as she slipped her legs over the edge of her bed and glanced at the hovering Tikki.

 “Sure!”

  
School use to be where she had to worry about slipping up in front of Alya, now with every boy close to her age being a prime suspect for the cards and notes that appeared in her locker she had so much more to worry about. 

More to worry about, like that mornings letter:

  _I love mew more and more everyday, and I don't wanna bug you about it, but keep your shoes tied so you don't go falling for anyone else._

_I thought I would let you know something about me so I wanted to let you in on a couple of secrets (my suit is made of boyfriend material, it's a fact) and well, I have a condition, I can't taste my lips, no matter how hard I try. It's a sad condition to be in but I thought that purrhaps you could help me out by tasting them for me?_

  _I look at you and wonder if you are a tower because Eiffel for you hard the day we met by chance. I really wish you would change that last name of yours though, I don't like it. You can have mine instead._

  _Mari me please._

_Love;_

_Chat_

 She groaned and shoved the note deep into her pants pocket before anyone else could see it. She had been coming to school early lately to hide the confessions before anyone else showed up for the day. It confused her to no end on how he knew which locker was hers and how he somehow managed to get the notes in it when she was the first student in the school lately, but there was nothing she could do that seemed to persuade him to stop. With a defeated huff she slammed her locker shut and turned to make her way out of the small room.

 Only to bump into the toned chest of a boy she hadn't noticed standing beside her.

 “H-hey Mar- Marinette.” She looked up to see Adrien smiling at her and giving her a small awkward wave.

 “A-a-a-Adrien, h-hi! How a-are you? I mean I know you're fine, I mean doing fine.” She stumbled over her words as she felt her cheeks heat up with the blush that had worked its way across them. His own cheeks seemed to be tinged with pink as his eyes flashed between her and the lockers.

 “You're here early.” He stated as he slid his hands into his pockets.

 “Y-yeah. I uh, I h-haven't been sleeping well.” She mumbled as she looked down shyly. He looked so good for it to be so early in the morning, she didn't think she could stand it.  

 “Something keeping you up?” He asked as he tilted his head slightly to the right in the way that made her knees weak.

 “M-more like s-someone.” She mumbled as she looked down to hide her face behind her bangs. The sounds of other students talking filled her ears and she felt herself stiffen at the voices drawing nearer, “haha,” she looked up and towards the door quickly as the nervous laugh left her lips, “w-well I gotta- so- bye!” She rushed past him and through the door before he could react. Adrien was the only guy who was too soft spoken and polite to be Chat, it wasn't like she hadn't thought of it since the incident, but he just was so perfect that she felt embarrassed even thinking he could have seen her with that note.

  _He was in the locker room though._

  _He was the only other one there._

  _No! No way he was anything like Chat Noir._

 She frowned as she plopped down in her seat and rested her chin on her fisted hands. She knew she was going crazy; she didn't _want_ to know who he _was_ , but it would be a lot easier if she knew who he _wasn't_ so she wasn't so stressed lately.

 “Hey girl.” She looked up to see Alya skipping up to her with the same large smile she had the last few weeks.

 “Hey, how was your night?” She asked as she leaned back against her seat.

 “No sightings. It's bumming me out,” she smiled slightly as Alya frowned and crossed her arms. Her best friend had been looking out for her and her partner on patrol nearly every night now, she wanted desperately to know if they both knew each other's identities now.

 “Sorry.” She stated when Alya raised her eyebrow at her curiously, “I was just thinking over a new design.” She added as an excuse for her smile.

 “You are doing a lot of designing lately, are you trying to get someone's attention?” Alya nudged her with her elbow as she winked. Marinette looked up in time to see Adrien walk through the door and quickly looked down again as the memory of him blushing filled her mind.

 “N-not really.” She mumbled as she busied herself with sketching in her drawing pad, “I'm just working on my gown for the Snow Ball..”

 “Are you sure you can't hang tonight?” Her ears perked at the sound of Ninos voice.

 “Sorry Nino, I've got a thing.” Adriens voice had her lifting her head a bit as a smile made its way across her lips. There was no way Adrien would ever be that pun master.

 During the rest of the school day she thought about Chat, as she had been doing quite often, he was a good guy. She just didn't like him like he liked her, she saw him as a close friend, a partner, someone she could trust with her life. Of course now she just had to trust him twice as much since he knew who she was both in and out of the mask, but she thought that with a bit of luck she would never be in that great of danger as her civilian self. She couldn't stop mulling over this even as school ended and she made her way home. Her mind was still stuck on the blonde even as her body moved on autopilot into her room and over to sit and stare blankly at her computer. She could see Tikki from the corner of her eye and felt her lips pull down slightly. Her kwami wanted her to talk to Chat about what happened, Tikki hadn't exactly been shy about vocalizing her opinion on the matter the last few weeks.

 “I will talk to him, eventually, when I get my head straight.” Marinette sighed before her kwami could speak. Tikki huffed slightly before giving her a soft motherly smile.

 “I just want you happy Marinette.” she said gently, “Chat could be what does that, I mean he really loves you and I know you would love him too.” she had to choose her words carefully, after the fateful night that forced them to detransform in front of each other Tikki had to control herself. She wasn’t sure she could fight the urge to tell her chosen that she was already in love with the boy behind Chats mask for much longer.

 Sometimes she wished they hadn’t kept their eyes closed that night. She wished that she hadn’t shushed Plagg. If only she knew beforehand that Marinette would end up revealing herself to him she would have called out his name, or even hers, right in that very moment. She hadn’t done that though, because she was Tikki, she had to be the voice of reason even if she didn’t want to.

 A tap on the skylight above her bed had both of them looking upwards. Chat had his face pressed to the glass with a large smile spread across his cheeks as he waved down at them. Marinette let out a long tired sigh before lifting herself from her computer chair and heading up the ladder that led up to her bed. She took her time climbing onto her bed and undoing the latch on her skylight. He smiled down at her the entire time, unfazed by these actions now that he knew who she really was.

 “Good evening my lady princess.” he practically purred as he leaned his head into the opening.

 “What are you doing here Chat?” she asked with the same tired sigh as before.

 “I just wanted to check in on my favorite girl, did you read my letter?” he asked as he tilted his head slightly to the side. She rolled her eyes and reached up to gently push his face out of the way and scrambled to climb up to her rooftop balcony.

 “Yes, I read your _letters_.” she crossed her arms over her chest as she spoke and set a firm glare in his direction, “You could seriously get me found out if you keep leaving those in my locker. The ladyblogger happens to be my best friend you know.” with this she moved past him to lean against the railing surrounding her balcony.

 “I didn’t think of Alya.” he sighed, causing her to whip her head around to glare at him once again.

 “I told you no more hints!” she exclaimed as she pointed her finger threateningly at him.he threw his hands up in a surrendering motion as his lips formed into a cocky smirk.

 “It’s not a hint, I know her as Chat too.” he shrugged at his own words before lowering his hands and stepping up beside her, “Did you think about what I asked you?”

 “You asked me to marry you.” she deadpanned

 “I asked you to _Mari_ me. Because we are _Purrfect_ together.” he retorted as he leaned in close to her face.

 “Ugh, Chat.” she whined as she slid away from him, “You aren’t serious, you’re never serious. Besides, I like someone already, someone who doesn’t say a pun every other sentence.”

 “ _Water_ you talking about Princess? I only pun to let off some _steam.”_  he smirked as he toyed with her water spritzer that she used for her plants.

 “That’s exactly what I’m talking about, you cant even be serious about this. How can I know you are serious about your feelings for me at all?” she huffed as she crossed her arms before herself once again. Her eyes found the tiles of her balcony floor as she continued, “I bet you can’t go one single day without making a pun.” His usual cocky smile fell into a firm line as his brows pulled close together and his eyes narrowed at her.

 “Deal, but if I win the bet I get to take you to the Snow Ball.” He stated firmly.

 “Fine, only because I know you won’t win.” she smirked as she spoke, but felt her lips fall into a worried frown as he laughed darkly.

 “Never doubt me, my lady.” he whispered before leaping off of her balcony and into the night.

* * *

The very next day was truly an unfortunate one for Chat. He knew it would be as soon as Hawkmoths newest akuma bellowed their name out loudly and proudly as it floated a few feet from the ground before his crouched figure.

 “I am the Punchline! Bow before the might of my powerful wordplay!” His blood ran cold as his face paled at the very word Punchline.

  _Punchline… PUNchline… oh no. Oh no oh no oh no.._

 “What? Are you a comedian that couldn't get a laugh?” Ladybug asked cockily from his right. He looked up at her with terror dancing across his emerald eyes and slowly shook his head.

  _His name is a_ _pun_ _come on my lady._

 “I am the master of Puns! You shall fall for my skills!” The akuma bellowed. In that moment Ladybug lost her footing on the roof of the school and went tumbling down, catching herself with her yoyo just before she hit the concrete below.

 “Chat!” She exclaimed, “look for where the akuma item is!”

 “On it!” He called down as he watched her flip through the air to land safely on a dumpster nearby. He noticed her stand a brace herself on a “it's that time of year” sign before he turned his attention back to the akuma victim.

 “What, you two puny little superzeros think you can stop me? Ha!” Punchline held his sides as he began to laugh at his own words, “when pigs fly!” Chats eyes widened and his head tilted as a loud oinking filled the air just before a large pig with wings like a pigeon flew out from behind Punchline.

 “Seems we will defeat you easily.” Ladybug Stated as she placed her hands firmly on her hips, “you don't seem to be putting up much of a fight, come on Punchline I can take it!”

 “I'll hold you to _that!”_ As soon as the words left the akuma victims lips, Ladybug was thrown forcefully back against the word “that” on the sign and struggled against something that Chat couldn't see. He felt his teeth grind together as a low growl emanated from his chest.

  _This guy is just toying with us._

 “Does it bug you that you can't move? I mean honestly Ladybug the signs on the wall.” Punchline was moving towards her as he spoke, Chats blood boiled at the sight. He leapt quickly from his perch to stand between them with his baton out and ready to defend her. The akuma chuckled madly as he swung his finger upward to point menacingly at Chat, “perhaps this Chat needs to go back in the bag.” As the words left the akuma victims mouth Chat found a large sack forming around him. He lashed out with his clawed gloves to cut his way through it, struggling against the sack that continued to reform itself around him as he did so.

 “Oh boy, your aim is just _clawful_ isn’t it.” Punchlines voice was full of malice as he openly mocked the black clad superhero.

 “You should pay more attention to who you’re fighting!” Chat saw a flash of red before Ladybug was taking up his area of vision. He smiled despite himself as he watched her jump into action. It was nearly impossible to see Marinette, shy sweet Marinette, as she was now. There were so many sides of her that he wanted to know, but she wouldn’t allow it, not as long as she refused to let him show her who he was.

 The fight went on for hours, the Punchline shooting out pun after pun that came to life before their eyes. Sometimes, even setting Chat up to retort with one or two of his own. Each time he had to hold back, at one point biting the inside of his mouth hard enough to taste blood in order to resist the urge to call out in his favorite comedic way. Ladybug managed to tie up the akuma victim with the help of a long roll of ribbon that he lucky charm gave her and snapped the bracelet in half that held the akuma. He watched her purify it silently and shared a fistbump with her before she left him there to return to her home. Now that he had seen who she was he knew that she raced away in order to hide her second life from her family. He smiled through the reporter’s questions and lended an ear to the victim, perhaps a bit more than usual due to the poor young man's anger at his friends calling his puns idiotic, before he too slipped out of sight and de-transformed where he was safely hidden from the public’s eye.

 “You aren’t even using puns when you’re alone. You okay kid?” Plagg asked as he settled on Adrien’s outstretched hand.

 “I made a bet I intend to win.” Adrien shrugged as he tucked his kwami into his waiting pocket. With one last look around him he smirked in the direction of Marinette's home before turning and making his way towards his own.

* * *

 

“Today was the worst!” Marinette shot up into a sitting position from a peaceful sleep at the sound of Chat screaming. She groaned and laid back down before stuffing a pillow over her face. Midnight, she should have known. “It was clawful, a catastrophe! I mean I don’t want to be a downer but,” a thump sounded above her, “no puns is the worst punishment I could ever go through!” She cut her eyes at Tikki who had her mouth covered with both of her tiny hands. With a soft aggravated groan she rolled off of her bed and made her way down the waiting ladder.

 “Tell him that I am going down for a glass of water, I need sleep for school, and I’m not sure if he actually goes to school but he needs sleep too.” She pointed up at the balcony above their heads as she spoke and Tikki nodded at her words with a small determined glint in her eyes.

 She could hear his muffled punning even in her kitchen as she grabbed a quick glass of water. Her eyes lingered upwards before darting to her parents bedroom door as the sounds grew louder. Idly, she wondered if he had lost his mind from holding in the urge to pun for well over 24 hours. Something inside her just knew that he had kept up his end of the bet even outside of being Chat Noir. The feeling came from a deep place of trust that she held for her partner.

 Her cheeks warmed at the thought and she quickly finished off her glass of water. Chat was her partner and he seemed to love her no matter who she was, that had to be why she was suddenly feeling shy about even thinking of how much she trusted him. She even cared about the black clad alley cat, the thought caused her to pause. She did care about Chat, she even would go so far as to say he was a closer friend to her than even Alya, especially now. He knew all of her now, her bravery and clumsiness, her confidence and her fearfulness. He even knew she liked someone else. She wondered if he knew who she liked and simply didn’t care as she made her way up the stairs and through her open trap door.

 “He left a note for you after I delivered your message.” Tikki stated around a piece of folded up notebook paper that she was holding out to her. Marinette took it without a word and opened the note to read what he had written:

  _Marinette;_

_I’ll pick you up at 7. As Chat. I know you wouldn’t want me to reveal myself to you just because I know who you are. Really looking forward to the dance. I promise it will be a purrfect night for you._

_I love you._

_Chat._

* * *

 

A week can pass by quickly when distractions pop up around every corner, distractions like finally getting her lime green dress finished while battling an akuma every other day. Hawkmoth seemed to be extra agitated for some reason, or maybe it was the holidays causing stress and giving him more opportunities. She would never know. Chat had been more active as well, stopping by once a day to talk or help her with the dress. He was very good at swing which stitching would work where and could carry on a conversation about designing that would make many of her other friends cringe. As he stuck around more and more she began to find it hard to look at him without her face heating up exponentially. She would often duck her head, hiding her shyness in the fact she was busily sewing a dress to wear when he took her out on what he proudly proclaimed a date.

 She looked at the clock on her computer one last time, 6:58. Two minutes until Chat would show up to take her to the school dance. There was a rumor going around that Adrien had asked Chloe to be his date and that was why the dance had moved from the school to her father’s hotel, but whenever she heard Nino asking him about it he said he doubted he would be allowed to go at all. His father had been keeping a tighter leash on him lately it seemed, if it had not been for Chats frequent visits distracting her she would’ve found herself worrying over his absence constantly.

  _New message from: Alya_

_Girl when are you going to tell me who your super secret date is? The dance is about to start and you haven’t said a word._

 She winced at the text message as soon as it popped up on her screen. Of course she couldn’t tell her best friend a superhero was taking her to the Snow Ball, especially since that superhero was in love with Ladybug and… her life was going to get very complicated after tonight.

  _Tap tap tap._

 She looked up at her window to see Chats smiling face looking back at her. A snort escaped her lips as she noticed how wide and goofy his grin appeared. He looked every bit like a love struck puppy, _or kitten_ , the thought had her giggling even as she waved him inside. The black cat had a lime green outlined black tux on over his suit along with a matching bow tie that rested sloppily against the bell on his neck. His usually messy locks were slicked back in a style she hadn’t really seen on anyone their age. It reminded her a lot of her favorite fashion designer if she were honest with herself.

 “You’re early, Chat.” Tikki had floated out from the spot she napped in over Marinette's computer to give the boy a sly grin. He chuckled as he scraped the back of his head before his face paled as he realized what he was doing. Almost frantically, he began to smooth his hair back into the style it had been in.

 “Sorry, it was getting chilly outside.” He replies after he determined that his hair was perfect once again. It was a side of him that Marinette had never seen before, caring about his image, it had her tilting her head to one side as she watched him work.

 “Wait,” she shook her head as his words pierced through her thoughts, “how long where you out there?” She asked as she looked between him and her kwami.

 “Not long…” he replied at the same time that Tikki stated, “an hour.”

 “You’ve been hanging out on my roof for an hour?” She felt her brows furrow as she crossed her arms.

 “I was excited?” He looked at her through his eyelashes in a shy way as he spoke. She responded with a slow shake of her head before moving to adjust his bow tie.

 “Did you put the tux on after your transformation?” She asked as she smoothed down the silky fabric. His tux felt like it was made of very expensive materials, upon closer inspection of it she could clearly see the Gabriel logo intermingled in the pinstripes, “you really went all out Chaton, this is not a cheap look.”

 “Yeah I uh, I wanted to wear it even if it would be replaced by the suit, then I thought why not just transform then put it on. Only problem there is well I couldn’t exactly as for help with….” he waved at the now fixed bow tie as a blush spread across his cheeks.

 “Well at least you d-date knows how to fix one.” She ducked her head quickly and turned away from him as her cheeks warmed to the point that she could swear they were on fire. She could hear him shuffling around in front of her and glanced up in time to see him mimicking her own actions.

 “We should go.” He stated as he turned to her trapdoor that lead down into her home.

 “Wait, we can’t go out that way. What if my parent see you? There will be too many questions and I-“

 “You didn’t tell them who your date was?” He asked, cutting off her words as he did so. She paled as she shook her head in response and he stared at her in shock before dropping his eyes to look at the trapdoor once again.

“I’m sorry Chat.” She whispered as she turned her gaze down to her feet. A wave of nervous nausea washed over her as the silence stretched on between them. He had to think she was being unreasonable to hide him from her parents but she couldn’t run the risk of anyone discovering who they were.

“So, the rooftops then?” He asked, breaking the strained silence and causing her to lift her head and look at him with shock filled eyes. He gave her a soft warm smile before shrugging, “I get it. You can’t just tell your parents that you’re dating a superhero for the night right?” He looked towards her ceiling then towards her once again as he spoke, “maybe you should leave through your front and then meet me on the roof of the school?” The tone of his voice was light like usual but the look on his face was withdrawn and thoughtful, like it was when he disagreed with one of her plans during a fight.

She nodded and moved past him, down into her home where she shared a quick goodbye with her parents. Only being allowed to leave when she told them she wanted to meet her date at the park near her school and that she would be home before eleven. With a quick moment to transform, she was leaping from rooftop to rooftop to meet Chat. He gave her a heartwarming smile before motioning for her to led them across the city. With no words needed to be shared between them they made their way across the city towards the hotel and waiting party.

* * *

 

“I need to change back.” Ladybug had landed first in the alley behind the hotel and turned to look up at Chat as she spoke. He was squatted down on the fire escape above her and giving her the same warm smile as before. She knew he was watching even as she released her transformation, and even shot him a warning glance telling him not to say a word about it. He still hadn’t moved from his perch which caused her to begin to worry.

“Are you coming?” She chuckled around the question in an attempt to lighten the aura that seemed to surround them. He blinked, surprise evident on his features as he thought over her words, before sighing softly and shaking his head.

 “I was thinking, if your parents are a threat to your identity then Alya being the blogger out to figure out who you are would be one to. You go have fun. I’ll be there but no one can see me alright?” He states as he stood and stretched his spine. She frowned as his words sank in and looked down at the dress she had ended up modeling after the color of his eyes. So he had been, at least in a small way, offended by her words.

 “Are you sure?” She asked without turning her gaze back up to him.

 “You look too good to kiss the dance. Go enjoy yourself with your friends. I bet all of them are waiting for you inside.” He made a shooing motion with his hands as he spoke, bringing a smile to her lips even if her heart felt heavy. He didn’t wait for her to respond before extending his staff and pushing off of the fire escape and onto the rooftop of the hotel. She took in a deep calming breath after he was out of her view and made her way around to the front of the building.

Inside was decorated to resemble a winter wonderland. The usual bright reds and golds of the main room were replaced with Icy blue, silver, and stark white. Large piles of shiny silk cloth where strewn about like snow drifts and large ice sculptures were placed on the many round tables placed around the room. All in all it was a beautiful set up, even Marinette had to admit that Chloe had a future in either party planning or interior design if not both.

 Everyone was dressed in bright colors that offset the icy backdrop the room created. Even her own gown for the evening seemed to stand out more when she caught a glance at herself in a large mirror that was designed to look like a frozen waterfall.

 “Mari! You look great!” Alya was running at her almost as soon as she stepped past the first row of tables full of food and drink.

 “You look amazing, you have to let me know your designer.” Marinette chuckled as she pretended to study her friends bright orange dress that she herself designed and sewed long before she started on her own.

“Only the best designer in all of Paris.” Alya did a dramatic turn to show off her ensemble as both Marinette and Nino looked on with similar smiles on their lips.

“She hasn’t stopped singing your praises since we got here.” Nino whispered into her ear. She giggled lightly at his words and hid her large grin behind her hands as she did so.

“Speaking if you,” they both turned to see Alya pointing her finger playfully at Marinette's chest, “where is this date you couldn’t tell me about.” Sweat caused Marinettes forehead to feel cold as she stared down her best friend who’s own face had grown deathly serious.

“It uh, it didn’t work out. He couldn’t come.” She mumbled as she reached up to rub her arm slowly as she spoke and turned to look at the mirror once again rather than at her friend.

“See Sabrina, I told you she didn’t really have a date.” Her cheeks warmed at the sound of Chloe’s voice but she refused to turn her head to look at the blonde girl who had bullied her for most of her school life.

“Don’t listen to her. Come on.” Alya pulled Marinette through the room to a table in the back where the two girls sat and watched the couples dancing while Nino awkwardly stood near the orange clad female. The party continued around them, Marinette was firmly into watching Ivan and Maylene dancing to a romantic but seasonally themed song as thoughts of Chat danced through her mind. He had leapt up to the roof and said he would be there but no one would see him. Could he be in the party right now, watching her from afar? She tore her gaze off of the dancing couple to look around the large room for the tell tale black tux with the nearly neon green lining. Her eyes danced over every male in the room to no avail causing her to let out a soft angry huff as she slid down in her seat. Apparently he had decided to hide even from her.

“Adrien’s here?” Nino broke her trance like searching with a bewildered tone and a questioning statement. She turned her attention first to the blue and orange clad male who had spoken then to the doors leading out into the cold Paris night. There he stood, his honey blonde hair slicked back in a style reminiscent of his father’s and a sharp black tux from his father’s winter collection. From this distance she couldn’t see, but in her mind there was the green lining to both his tux and bow tie. Her eyes flicked to his face and for a split second her mind showed a black mask covering his eyes and two cat like ears poking up from his hair. She could feel her eyes widen in shock as her cheeks began to heat to the point it felt as if her skin was burning.

“Adrikins!” Chloe’s shrill voice cut through her life altering realization like a siren calling out there was a fire. She shook her head to clear her thoughts before looking in his direction once again. No tell tale signs of Chat filled her vision and she berated herself for imagining them in the first place. She watched as Chloe jumped onto him, wrapping him in a hug to signify to everyone who had been whispering about the rumors that he was in fact there for her. As Marinette watched the scene his eyes drifted her way and she ducked her head to hide a deep blush forming on her cheeks.

There was a murmur in the crowd that seemed to wash towards her like a wave, she looked up at the sound to see that Adrien had peeled Chloe off of him and was making his way over to their table. Her mind of course went directly to him coming to say hello to his best friend who happened to be her best friends date…

_I’ll be there, no one will see me…_

Chats voice filled her thoughts as his tux’s details came into sharper focus. He was in fact wearing the lime green lined tux that Chat had been in earlier that night. Nino made his way the few short steps to meet him and they shared a short hello before they made their way to the table together. Alya gave him a friendly wave with one hand while nudging Marinette with her other elbow, all the whole smiling brightly at the blonde male.

“You’re looking sharp tonight.” Alya practically purred as she shot Adrien a playful wink, “ya know who you match up great with,” She grabbed Marinette by the shoulder to pull her closer to herself, “it’s almost like you’re her date tonight huh?”Adrien chuckled at her words as his hand drifted up to scratch at the back at his head only to stop short and rest along the back of his neck. Marinette felt as if she could melt into a puddle the second she noticed the light tint of pink brushing the tops of his cheeks.

“Hey, yeah. You two should totally get pictures my dude. Those outfits match like puzzle pieces man!” Nino piped up as it dawned on him that their color schemes were eerily close. Marinette was certain that her face was as bright crimson as Nathaniel’s hair at this point of the conversation. A conversation that her suddenly desert dry throat would not allow her to join in on.

“Would you like to, we all could take a group picture.” She looked to Adrien with surprise dancing across her eyes, he was actually going along with the suggestion as if he was thinking of it himself anyway. Something that she could remember Chat saying he would like to do during one of his many visits.

“Nino and I already took our picture and we can’t go again.” Alya stated nonchalantly and nudged Marinette towards the blonde. An awkward smile was shared between the two as Adrien held his hand out to her, which she took with only a small amount of prompting from her best friend. A wave like lightning washed through her from the contact that she made with his bare hand, a hand that held hers in a way that was so familiar she could almost feel the leather covered claws.

She was led across the room like she was in a dream, her body moved like it was flowing through the air with only the slightest urging of Adrien’s gentle tug. They floated into place before the hired photographer and she felt his hands on her hips as he pulled her lightly against him. Her body tensed as his seemed to naturally relax, the faintest breeze of his breath on the back of her neck sent her soaring even as his steadying grip kept her anchored in place. The quick flash of light off the camera brought her back down to earth just enough for her to realize, truly realize, what was happening. Adrien was holding her closely while taking a couple photo at the school dance. Thousands of daydreams both began and ended with scenarios like this one.

Her thoughts drifted to Chat once more, no matter how she attempted to simply enjoy her time with Adrien. Even just a quick glance over her shoulder had her seeing her partner instead of her crush, or maybe including her crush as the two seemed to be tangled together in her mind.

“Are you okay Mari?” His voice pulled her from her thoughts and had her jumping a bit. However since his hands were still holding her in place all her action managed to achieve was rubbing against him awkwardly. Her cheeks blazed like fire once more as she pushed herself away from him while shaking her head in an attempt to clear her muddled thoughts.

“Uh, yeah I uh.” She shook her head slowly as she spoke, “I’m sorry. Excuse me.” She mumbled softly as she turned and rushed the the large restroom in order to get away and clear her thoughts. He watched her go as confusion pulled his brows together above his narrowed eyes.

“Hey Adrien.” Before he could process what had happened his name was called from behind him, causing him to whip his head about and his eyes to widen at a sight he thought he would never see, a cocky Nathaniel. “Got a minute?” The redhead asked as she pointed to the doors behind him that led out into the snow filled winter night.

“Uh,” he turned towards the restrooms that Mari had vanished behind and let out a slow sigh, “yeah. I guess I do.”

He followed his usually shy and introverted classmate out of the building and into the biting cold wind and crunching snow beyond. The sun had set leaving the sky a blanket of velvet in an area as brightly lit as the one they were in. Despite this his palms were beginning to sweat with nervousness, he had this uneasy feeling in his gut from witnessing this mood change in someone he had known for nearly two years now. Even Plagg could sense it as soon as his hand cupped around the Kiwanis head.

“So, what’s up Nath?” Adrien asked after he noticed the other male leading him towards an alleyway, the same one he had detransformed in.

“Oh, nothing. I just wanted to talk to you.” Nathaniel leaned against the very dumpster that he had detransformed behind just ten minutes before, “you know, I was kinda late to this. I wasn’t even going to come but…” he waved one hand in a small circle, only bending his wrist to do so, as his other slid into the pocket of his dark blue suit, “anyway, I was walking past this alley when I saw the strangest thing.” Adrien’s blood turned to ice as he attempted to swallow the lump growing in his throat, “it was a green flash of light. I thought perhaps a fire cracker or something so I just peeked a little. Know what I saw?” He felt his brows pull together as he narrowed his eyes at the ginger haired male, “I saw you Adrien, or should I call you Chat Noi-“ he moved fast to cover Naths mouth before he could finish his sentence.

“I guess the Chats out of the bag huh?” He could feel himself growl the words as mortification rushed through him, was this how Mari felt? His heart pounded with a mix of fear and pain at the thought. “The real question is what you’re going to do with this information.” He finished as he released the other male. Nath gasped for breath and rubbed his cheek slowly as he turned his gaze on Adrien. The blonde could feel his anger turning to remorse, he hadn’t meant to hurt Nath, he simply wanted to shut him up.

“I won’t do anything with it, if you leave Marinette alone tonight. I had a plan to ask her to dance and-“

“You had your chance to ask Mari out plenty of times. No deal. Tell whoever you want.” It was last his lips before he could even think. His fists were coiled so tightly at his sides that his knuckles were turning white.

“Are you serious?” Nath chuckled out, “you realize what kind of problems that could cause you?”

“Yeah. I am.” He was pressing his hand against the top of his pocket to keep the thrashing Plagg inside. “Go ahead and tell, I don’t care about that as much as I care about Mari.”

“Dude.” Naths eyes grew wide as they darted to look at something over his shoulder. His own eyes widened in surprise as he slowly turned his head to see what the other male was looking at.

Marinette stood there, wide eyed in the snow with her hands covering her lips and her eyes so wide that the lights bouncing off of them looked like stars on a bluebell sky. He reached out to her as she turned and darted off into the night.

“Dammit.” He grumbled before rushing after her through the bitter cold. He chased her around a corner only to run into an empty alleyway. His head turned skyward quickly to see a flash of red leaping from rooftop to rooftop.

He called out to be transformed and wasted no time in following her. Tracking where she had gone by footprints in the snow that had piled on the Parisian rooftops. She had traveled far in a short amount of time, but he eventually caught up to her on the top of the Eiffel Tower. Her back was to him when he landed but he could tell by the slight jump of her shoulders that she knew he was right behind her. He watched as her hand reached up to wipe her eyes and felt his throat seize at the sight, did she really hate him for being Adrien?

“Chat?” Her voice was shaky as she called out his name.

“Yes My Lady?” He could feel his own voice quiver in response. There was a long pause, during which she stood and dusted the powdery snow off of her legs.

“Adrien?” She finally asked after what felt like forever for him. He could feel his knees wanting to buckle, the shaking was gone from her voice and she almost sounded hopeful.

“Yes, Mari.” He felt like he was admitting it to Hawkmoth himself with how many butterflies were suddenly swarming around in his stomach.

A flash of pink/red light had him covering his eyes momentarily as she released her transformation. She turned to face him with a determined glint in her eyes that faded the second they locked into his. She looked down as her cheeks darkened even more than they had from the cold.

“You don’t play fair Chat.” She stated softly as she continued to study the snow at her feet.

“My Lady, I-“ he didn’t know what he was going to say, apologize for everything maybe, but luckily she cut him off before he could continue.

“You said you loved me the whole time and here you go and make me fall for you twice.” She looked into his eyes once again as she said this and he felt himself fill with warmth despite the winter night around them. He ran to her as if drawn by a magnetic force and lifted her into his arms, spinning her around before pressing his lips against hers as he had dreamed of doing for so long.

“I am so happy to hear you say that.” He panted after they pulled apart for air. His transformation was released shortly after much to a grumbling Plaggs delight and he pulled her into the slightly less chilly confines of the towers elevator. Neither knew how it started, but using only their heartbeats as music they began to dance around the small space, laughing and smiling, and feeling all the weight of their secrets leaving them as they did so.

“You know,” Marinette whispered after a moment, “I was already starting to suspect you a tiny bit, there’s no way two people would end up in the same tux and hairstyle.” She giggled as she ran her hand over the bow tie she had personally fixed earlier that evening.

He pulled her in for a warm hug as his chest filled with the warmth of love beyond what he could have ever imagined.

“That is because my Lady is brilliant.”

“Oh kitty,” she giggled lightly as she playfully slapped his chest.

“Hey Mari?” He asked in his own hushed whisper as her giggles died down.

“Hmmm?”

“Mari me?”

 

**THE END**

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this. I got permission from my recipient to share this with all of you. I know its late but Merry Christmas/ Happy Holidays, and Happy New year everyone!


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